“THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE, DANGEROUS PRESIDENT WE’VE EVER HAD”

An unprecedented abuse of powers. The most un-American president in the nation’s history. Nat Hentoff does not think much of President Obama.

And now, the famous journalist says it is time to begin looking into impeachment.

Hentoff sees the biggest problem as Obama’s penchant to rule by executive order when he can’t convince Congress to do things his way.

The issue jumped back into the headlines last week when, just before his first Cabinet meeting of 2014, Obama said, “I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone … and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions.”

“Apparently he doesn’t give one damn about the separation of powers,” Hentoff told WND. “Never before in our history has a president done these things.”

And just to make sure everyone knows how extremely serious he regards the situation, the journalist added, “This is the worst state, I think, the country has ever been in.”

Many have regarded Hentoff as the conscience of civil libertarianism and liberalism for decades.

Recognized as one of the foremost authorities on the Bill of Rights and the Supreme Court, Hentoff was a columnist and staff writer with The Village Voice for 51 years, from 1957 until 2008, when his columns began appearing in WND.

Hentoff left the Voice after he looked into the abortion industry, was shocked by what he found and had a falling-out with colleagues.

The First Amendment expert still hews left on many issues, railing against former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, the prison at Guantanamo Bay and the National Defense Authorization Act.

But he hasn’t liked Obama from the start.

“Within a few months after he was elected, I wrote a column saying he was going to be the most destructive, dangerous president we’ve ever had,” he said.

Hentoff said people he’d known for years told him to stop being so negative and to give Obama a chance.

“Well, we’ve given him a chance. I understated the case a little.”

In other words, Hentoff thinks Obama is the most dangerous and destructive president ever.

“He has no right to do these executive orders,” Hentoff insisted, his voice reaching a crescendo of indignation.

He says Obama gets away with it only because there is no outrage in Congress, no coverage by the media and no knowledge by the public.

“He’s in a position now where he figures he’s going to do whatever he wants to do.”

In fact, Hentoff said, Obama doesn’t even pretend to care about the separation of powers between the executive branch and Congress anymore, because “He’s the boss and hardly anybody cares enough” to stop him.

As WND previously reported, even the the far left-leaning FactCheck wrote, “It’s true that President Obama is increasingly using his executive powers in the face of staunch Republican opposition in Congress. He’s changed federal policies on immigration and welfare and appointed officials without congressional approval.”

“I would say that never before in our history had a president done these things,” Hentoff mused.

He noted that while Nixon merely claimed that winning an election gave him the right to do what he wanted, Obama is actually doing whatever he pleases.

The journalist said he doesn’t think any other president has acted so lawlessly as a matter of habit.

“So, if this isn’t a reason for at least the start of an independent investigation that would lead to impeachment, what is?”

Hentoff is baffled that Obama should escape such scrutinywhen former President Bill Clinton faced impeachment just for being “a lousy liar.”

A big part of the problem, the journalist believes, is what he calls the utter ignorance of a huge portion of the population, which is not outraged at losing its basic right to be self-governing.

And Obama “doesn’t give a damn, because he can get away with whatever he wants.”

That’s why Hentoff called this the worst state the country has ever been in, “Even worse than Woodrow Wilson’s regime, when people could be arrested for speaking German.”

Compounding the problem he says, is the digital age, which has allowed the president to engage in unprecedented domestic spying with the apparatus of the National Security Agency.

WND asked if Obama really posed such a threat, considering he was a professor of constitutional law.

“People forget, he taught a course that he was not fully qualified to teach. But nobody seemed to care,” Hentoff observed.

He also pointed out that Obama was the only editor of the Harvard Law Review to never publish an article, something that went virtually unnoticed when voters considered his qualifications.

“See, that was a case of affirmative-action and people feeling, ‘Hey we ought to do something important, symbolically, and here’s a black guy, and he’s articulate, so we’re gonna do this.’”

Hentoff mentioned that former U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, the man Time Magazine once called “the most doctrinaire and committed civil libertarian ever to sit on the court,” once personally lectured him that “Affirmative-action on a racial basis is a total violation of the 14th Amendment, no doubt about it.”

And, referring to Obama’s presidency, the journalist said, “That’s what that kind of affirmative-action did for us.”

He told WND that he firmly believed the president does not care about due process, the separation of powers, the concept of a self-governing republic or many other basic American ideals.

And that’s why, he said, “What Obama is doing now is about as un-American as you can get.”

Hentoff wanted to make sure no one thought he was engaging in hyperbole.

He said it was literally true that Obama is “the most un-American president we’ve ever had.”

And just to make sure everybody heard him, he added, “I hope the FBI got all of that.”

Hentoff is just the latest public figure to be added to the growing list of those mentioning the possible impeachment of President Obama.

I didn't support the Iraq War or my parents and I'm no Liberal, you can't pigeon hole ppl. Thanks for your comments. And if you've read about him, you know he's a Jazz afficionado, but a Bill of Rights and Supreme Court expert, his real forte.

American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media and writes regularly on jazz and country music for The Wall Street Journal. Columnist for Down Beat, The Village Voice, JazzTimes, Legal Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Progressive, Editor & Publisher and Free Inquiry. Staff writer for The New Yorker, and his writing has also been published in the New York Times, Jewish World Review, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Commonweal and in the Italian Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo.

True, but genius enough to most likely admit he was wrong, unlike liberals who see total failure already and refuse to admit it like ones I meet every day. They start attacking the messenger, but not the message, like you did with phenomenal Mr. Hentoff. It's about Obama not Nat's accomplishments.

I remember during that time, Christopher Hitchens, Peter Beinart and many others on the political left tentatively supporting Bush's invasion of Iraq, and in the case of Hitchens, I found myself supporting the views of his brother Peter, who was a conservative.

Hell, congress couldn't even impeach Reagan who was as corrupt as any president in history. Forget Nixon. He didn't commit treason. Of course he didn't have hostages as an asset to bargain with our enemies. He didn't sell missiles and spare parts to the other side. He didn't give the head of the CIA brain surgery to prevent him from talking. C'mon! Nixon needed impeachment. So did Reagan. But Obama is nowhere even close.

The GOP is doing more harm to themselves By not bringing it up in the house , Whether the Senate agrees or not , At least it would show America they are on our side , The way it looks now They are in agreement with democrats , Put it on the table , Let democrats block it and show the uniformed who the real traitors are that are causing them so much misery,Lame stream couldn`t keep that in the dark

This is the same guy that defended Bush when Georgie was lying about WMD in Iraq. He's more libertarian than liberal, give me a break. He supported the invasion of Iraq and is a die hard supporter of Israel so I think we know why he has a problem with Obama.

lol Again willful ignorance. Shock? Are you one of these people that believes Bush had not been forewarned about Osama Bin Ladens intentions? Give me a break? Stop apologizing for that clown!

"Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US was the President's Daily Brief prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency and given to U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday, August 6, 2001. The brief warned of terrorism threats from Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda 36 days before the September 11, 2001 attacks."

but how?? I know there is an American Spring march on DC planned for this March I think it is, but you know the media won't cover it, (think the veterans march and the truckers protest) and when you see snipers on the roof of the White House when veterans stacked the barriers up next to the White House fence, you get the feeling NOTHING will drag that slug out of his executive chair. =-{

Obama's just a suit in the WH, it's the electorate we have to worry about. The next guy will do the exact same thing. Republican or Democrat - it doesn't matter. The levy has been breached, the seal has been broken.